TORONTO - At a special meeting in Toronto today, the CAW master bargaining committees at General Motors, Ford and Chrysler gave the union the authority to engage in extraordinary contract talks with the North American automakers as their restructuring process continues in the coming weeks.

The talks would be aimed at ensuring that labour costs at the Canadian plants of the three companies remain competitive with the companies' U.S. plants, even as the U.S. parent corporations restructure their operations. "Labour costs clearly did not cause this worldwide crisis in the auto industry, and labour concessions cannot possibly solve that crisis," said CAW President Ken Lewenza.

"But we can't ignore the precarious financial state of these companies, the extraordinary government offers of aid and our need to remain fully competitive for future investment."

Talks with the automakers are likely to begin next week. In a special resolution authorizing the contract talks, the three bargaining committees attached conditions to any tentative deal that may be reached:

- Ratification by a majority of CAW members at each company;

- Participation by the companies in a financial assistance agreement with the Ontario and Canadian governments;

- Acceptance by the companies of agreed-upon commitments regarding their future proportional manufacturing presence and activity in Canada; and

- A comprehensive National Auto Strategy to address the overall challenges facing the auto industry, including addressing the huge trade imbalances between North America and the rest of the world.

"We have consistently indicated that the CAW will be part of the solution," Lewenza said. "But the workers could work for free, and it wouldn't make any difference without a broader national strategy to address this industry's deeper problems."